# Hypermedia > An index and topic collection covering hypermedia-driven APIs, HATEOAS, and the formats, link relations, and specifications that make APIs discoverable and self-describing. Hypermedia APIs use links, link relations, and embedded controls inside their responses so that clients can navigate an API ... This is the **Hypermedia** topic area of [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) — a network of focused knowledge bases drawn from 16 years of independent API research by Kin Lane. Browse all areas at https://apievangelist.com/areas/. ## Services & Tools - [Apicurio](https://providers.apis.io/providers/apicurio/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/apicurio) - [APIs.json](https://providers.apis.io/providers/apis-json/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/apis-json) - [Design Patterns](https://providers.apis.io/providers/design-patterns/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/design-patterns) - [Drupal](https://providers.apis.io/providers/drupal/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/drupal) - [MBTA](https://providers.apis.io/providers/mbta/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/mbta) - [OpenProject](https://providers.apis.io/providers/openproject/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/openproject) - [Patreon](https://providers.apis.io/providers/patreon/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/patreon) - [RDF](https://providers.apis.io/providers/rdf/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/rdf) - [REST](https://providers.apis.io/providers/rest/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/rest) - [RESTful](https://providers.apis.io/providers/restful/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/restful) - [RESTful APIs](https://providers.apis.io/providers/restful-apis/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/restful-apis) - [RESTful Services](https://providers.apis.io/providers/restful-services/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/restful-services) - [Reverb](https://providers.apis.io/providers/reverb/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/reverb) - [Schema.org](https://providers.apis.io/providers/schema-org/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/schema-org) - [SPARQL](https://providers.apis.io/providers/sparql/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/sparql) - [Spring Boot](https://providers.apis.io/providers/spring-boot/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/spring-boot) - [Spring Boot 3](https://providers.apis.io/providers/spring-boot-3/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/spring-boot-3) - [Spring Data](https://providers.apis.io/providers/spring-data/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/spring-data) - [Spring Framework](https://providers.apis.io/providers/spring/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/spring) - [Teamtailor](https://providers.apis.io/providers/teamtailor/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/teamtailor) - [Technology Standards](https://providers.apis.io/providers/technology-standards/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/technology-standards) - [W3C](https://providers.apis.io/providers/w3c/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/w3c) - [Web Standards](https://providers.apis.io/providers/web-standards/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/web-standards) - [Wikidata](https://providers.apis.io/providers/wikidata/) (repo: https://github.com/api-evangelist/wikidata) ## Common Features - **HATEOAS Navigation**: Hypermedia APIs include in-response links and link relations so clients can discover available state transitions at runtime rather than hard-coding URI templates against documentation. - **Standardized Hypermedia Formats**: Established formats such as HAL, JSON:API, Siren, Collection+JSON, Hydra, ALPS, UBER, Mason, and Verbose provide structured ways to embed links, actions, and metadata inside API responses. - **Web Linking via Link Headers**: RFC 5988 and RFC 8288 define the HTTP Link header and the Web Linking model, including the IANA Link Relations registry that gives shared meaning to rel values across APIs. - **Linked Data and Semantic Hypermedia**: JSON-LD, Hydra, schema.org, and the broader RDF stack extend hypermedia with shared vocabularies, enabling semantic interoperability between APIs, search engines, and knowledge graphs. - **Self-Describing API Catalogs**: RFC 9264 api-catalog, APIs.json, and similar discovery documents act as hypermedia entry points that link a host to its APIs, OpenAPI specs, terms of service, and policies. - **Hypermedia Frameworks and Libraries**: Frameworks like Spring HATEOAS, Spring Data REST, and Apicurio provide implementation support for emitting HAL, HAL-FORMS, JSON:API, and Collection+JSON responses from server code. ## Use Cases - **Evolvable Long-Lived APIs**: HATEOAS-based APIs allow servers to evolve URI structures, add new affordances, and deprecate endpoints over time while clients continue to navigate by link relations rather than hard-coded paths. - **Domain-Driven Project Management APIs**: OpenProject exposes work packages, projects, users, and attachments through a HAL+JSON hypermedia API where every resource embeds links to related resources and available actions. - **Standardized CRUD via JSON:API**: Patreon, MBTA, Teamtailor, and Drupal expose their resources via JSON:API, providing a consistent specification for fetching, including related resources, filtering, sorting, and pagination across very different domains. - **Semantic Search and Structured Data**: Schema.org and JSON-LD allow APIs and websites to publish machine-readable Linked Data that search engines, agents, and aggregators can consume without bespoke parsers. - **API Discovery and Catalogs**: APIs.json and RFC 9264 api-catalog documents act as hypermedia entry points that let crawlers, tooling, and AI agents discover an organization's APIs, specifications, and policies from a single well-known URL. - **Hypermedia-Driven Web Apps**: Approaches like htmx, hyperview, and Hypermedia Systems return HTML fragments and hypermedia controls directly to the client, simplifying applications by treating HTML itself as the hypermedia format. ## Related Areas - [Migration](https://migration.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering data migration, cloud migration, database migration, and API migration platfor... - [Backups](https://backups.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering backup, disaster recovery, and data protection APIs. Backup APIs enable applic... - [Visualization](https://visualization.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering data visualization, charts, dashboards, business intelligence (BI), and report... - [Privacy](https://privacy.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering privacy management, consent management, data subject rights, data classificati... - [Integrations](https://integrations.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering the broad integration tooling market, including iPaaS and embedded-iPaaS platf... - [Scraping](https://scraping.apievangelist.com): An index and topic collection covering web scraping platforms, proxy networks, SERP APIs, browser-based extraction se... ## More - [Latest Hypermedia stories](/stories/) - [All API Evangelist topic areas](https://apievangelist.com/areas/) - [API Evangelist network index (llms.txt)](https://apievangelist.com/llms.txt)